For College Baseball 360 Honor Roll, click here

MACON, Ga. – Sophomore pitcher Brandon Barker was named to the College Baseball 360 Weekly Honor Roll and the Mercer baseball team leads the nation in both home runs and hits according to the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings released on March 13.

Barker put together his best start of the season in Starkville, holding No. 23 Mississippi State to just one earned run on six hits over eight innings pitched to lead the Bears to a 6-1 victory. This is the second honor Barker has received in as many days after he was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Pitcher of the Week on Monday afternoon.

The Woodstock, Ga. native has had a breakout sophomore season thus far for the Orange and Black, compiling a 2-0 record to go along with a 2.39 ERA over a team-high 26.1 innings pitched.

Through the first four weeks of the season, no team in the country has tallied more home runs or hits than Mercer. The Bears have totaled 26 home runs and 204 hits as a team thus far in the 2012 campaign.

Buoying those statistics is the play of redshirt sophomore Nick Backlund, who currently leads the A-Sun Conference with 30 hits and ranks second in the league with seven home runs.

Barker, Backlund and the rest of the Bears finally return home, after over two weeks on the road, on March 14 when it takes on in-state rival Georgia State. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Claude Smith Field.